OAKLAND -- A 10-time felon has been charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of former Oakland Tribune freelance photographer Lionel Fluker, who was struck and killed by a stray bullet as two suspects fired on each other near an East Oakland gas station Friday night.

Police say Anthony Lister, 38, of San Leandro, was shot multiple times during the gunfight but also fired the bullet that killed Fluker. Lister, also known as Joe Daniel McNeely, managed to drive away from the shooting scene, and was taken by a friend to Highland Hospital, where he was treated before being placed under arrest.

Investigators interviewing witnesses and reviewing surveillance tape determined that Lister and an as-yet-unidentified man were firing on one another at a gas station around 10:15 p.m. when a bullet from Lister's gun struck and killed Fluker, 54, who was driving home on Seminary Avenue near MacArthur Boulevard.

Fluker was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police held Lister on a probation violation while they investigated. On Tuesday, he was charged with murder, possession of a gun by a felon, carrying a concealed firearm and carrying a loaded firearm, according to the Alameda County District Attorney's Office.

He remains at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on a no-bail hold. He was arraigned on the charges Tuesday afternoon. He has a criminal history dating back 20 years and has been to prison twice, police said.

Advertisement

None of his 10 prior felony convictions, which include auto theft, drug possession and weapons convictions, qualified him for life imprisonment under the Three Strikes Law.

The other man involved in the shootout at the Seminary Avenue Valero gas station has not been identified and remains at large, police said. It was not known Tuesday if he was wounded during the shootout, but police said he could face criminal charges for his part in the killing.

Police said Fluker, who was apparently on his way home from a friend's house Friday night, was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"My father (was) an innocent man and he was taken from me far too soon,'' said his daughter, Dominique Fluker. "No 20-year-old should have to go through this much pain."

A junior at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, Dominique is Fluker's only child.

"One thing that I keep contemplating is that he will not be at my graduation from college or my wedding. My dad was my best friend and he didn't deserve this," she said.

Police said an argument -- investigators don't know about what -- sparked a fistfight and then a gunfight. Fluker was the 25th person slain in Oakland this year, but the killing is among only a handful of 2013 homicide cases that's been solved.

"We don't have room for this kind of senseless behavior in this city,'' said Sgt. Mike Gantt, who investigated the case with Officer Eriberto Perez-Angeles. "We are very glad we were able to bring some closure to this family's grief. (Fluker) was just going home, not bothering anyone. It was a shame the way he was struck down." Most recently Fluker was working as a civic engineer with Acumen, a private engineering firm in Oakland. He worked as a freelance photographer for the Oakland Tribune on and off between 1995 and 2007, said Nick Lammers, the director of photography for Bay Area News Group. Friends and former colleagues remembered him as a talented and passionate photographer who had boundless energy and a big smile.

MEMORIAL SERVICE for LIONEL FLUKER
A public memorial service is planned for former Oakland Tribune freelance photographer Lionel Fluker at noon Saturday at CP Bannon Mortuary, 6800 International Blvd. in Oakland.